Ceria di Angelo and her siblings were standing in the corner of the gymnasium at their school dance when it all began.

Before all this, if you had asked Ceri if she thought gods and monsters of lore were real, she'd happily direct you to her twin brother, Nico. He'd been playing with his Mythomagic cards pretty much since the year began; had this huge collection and everything, all quite impressive.

Now though? It's a bit surprising it hadn't hit her sooner. Ha. Hit. Ceri could crack herself up.

Anyways, at this point while she and her siblings stood around mournfully watching the other students dance to . . . well, strange music (she'd been dealing with a lot of strangeness recently), she hadn't really had a clue as to what was going on. They were here in this military academy with only the three of them against the world and she was . . . bored. Bored and sad.

As such, Ceri had been wishing for something exciting to happen.

And then her wish had been granted.

Ever heard of the phrase, "be careful what you wish for?" Yeah. Hm.

"Children," Dr. Thorn, their vice principal who was a strict man with an even sterner mow, interrupted. "I need to speak with you three outside."

The siblings glanced at each other, each of them frowning in confusion. They were all three pretty well behaved given that they were orphans and hadn't a caregiver in—well, she wasn't sure, but it had been a while.

"Uh, sure," Bianca said but it was clear something was wrong. The air was tense and there was something peculiar happening. It was just at the tip of her tongue . . .

They had waited too long to respond, and instead of giving them time to get themselves together, he grabbed Bianca at her collar and pulled. The force was enough to knock her green cap right off her head. Nico sputtered, confused before he too was forced to abandon his cards that then sprawled along the floor. Ceri would have said something—really, she would have, even if Dr. Thorn scared the crap out of her—but she was his next victim in his unnecessary collaring.

When she squawked in outrage and tried to get free, he released a tight growl. That had her freezing. And then the strangest sensation of her body coming to life and yet pausing it's breath as fear and exhilaration peppered her insides.

Her older sister looked stumped, frowning as Dr. Thorn corralled the di Angelo siblings like they were unruly kittens. It had to be serious if the vice principal was willing to lay hands on them. The teacher's here didn't like doing that when they were mad at you for something, they liked to force you into exercise.

But as they left the gymnasium and walked down the dim hallways, the air seemed to clog itself with that feeling that just didn't feel right. Ceri knew something was up in the same way she always knew, yet couldn't prove it. She stared hard at the hand on her collar, feeling more and more that something crazy was about to happen.

Dr. Thorn seemed to twitch, and he looked back for a moment, a sneer darkening his already gray expression. He wrinkled his nose as if he was smelling something bad. Then he got this look, this look that said there were secret things going on in that head of his.

They were just in the main entry hall when Dr. Thorn pushed the three of them away causing them to cry out in pain just as their vice principal made this huge leap backwards. She turned to see where he went when the doors they'd just came through opened in a great burst.

It was a boy with a shock of black hair and dazzling sea green eyes. He was carrying some sort of bat in his hands, his hands reaching out in a placating motion as he slowly approached them.

"It's okay," he said, but her mouth was frozen when she saw right behind him, following her siblings stare. "I'm not going to hurt you."

Ceri wanted to laugh at that. It wasn't him they were worried about.

"My name's Percy," he said in a soft tone. "I'm going to take you out of here, get you somewhere safe."

She felt a whammy hit her then. This strange, strange sense as if she'd heard this before. What did the french call it? Deja vu? She'd felt this before. But no, no she hadn't, for obvious reasons as well as confounding ones. It was because it hadn't been her in the first place. She was so consumed by these odd sensations that she hadn't even noticed how Dr. Thorn had advanced on the boy—Percy.

In a show of incredible speed, Percy swung his bat just as he spun to face his opponent, but Dr. Thorn had been quicker and—her mind struggled to understand just what she was seeing. Where had he gone? Dr. Thorn? And Percy was stuck in the wall right next to them now? In pain?

"Yes, Perseus Jackson." It was Dr. Thorn but she couldn't see him and just that thought sent her heart tripping. "I know who you are."

Percy struggled for a moment with something in his shoulder, and then he seemed to make a realization.

A dark shadow befell them as her vice principal materials, somehow looking ghoulish in the soft lighting. He didn't look exactly human, his teeth too white, his eyes too electric. She felt chills sneaking along her back at the thought, but no, he had to be human. It was just nonsense to think otherwise.

"Thank you for coming out of the gym," he told Percy. "I hate middle school dances."

WUSSHH!

From out of nowhere a bolt of some kind hit the wall just beside Bianca's face causing her older sister to yelp. Even Ceri felt shaken as she came to realize just how close it'd been. So when the next orders came, Ceri pressed her lips together and obeyed.

"All three of you will come with me," Dr. Thorn said. "Quietly. Obediently. If you make a single noise, if you call out for help or try to fight, I will show you just how accurately I can throw."

It's a shame to say, but after that Ceri was just stuck trying to process everything she was hearing and seeing. She couldn't focus on anything, and yet she could see just about every detail of her school as they were boxed forward by the vice principal.

Nico and her shared a look, the two sneaking their hands together as if that would protect them. It did help though, she felt bolstered to know she wasn't alone. She looked at the boy, the one who was not Nico, and wondered about their situation. He seemed to know exactly what was going on from the grim look on his face.

As they made their way to god knows where, Percy seemed to slow down. He closed his eyes and his face pinched like he was thinking very hard.

"What are you doing, Jackson?" Dr. Thorn hissed. "Keep moving!"

Percy opened his eyes and shuffled forward, wincing as he went. "It's my shoulder. It burns." She'd nearly forgotten about his wound. She winced along with him, sympathy pooling in her gut. He had come here to save them, apparently, and yet now they were all in the same situation.

"Bah! My poison causes pain. It will not kill you. Walk!" Poison? Suddenly she was lot more worried. He could be lying about how lethal it is. She certainly didn't trust Dr. Thorn to be truthful.

Along the way as they headed outside she tried to wrap her head around the possible reasons her vice principal had suddenly gone insane. For what purpose he wanted them. It wasn't like the di Angelo's were very special. They were weird kids that didn't even have parents. Orphans. It wasn't like they were rich either, although to be honest, Ceri knew next to nothing about their finances. She just knew it'd be useless to use them as hostages.

They were in the forests beside the looming academy when their kidnapper deigned to address them again.

"There is a clearing ahead," Dr. Thorn said. "We will summon your ride."

"What ride?" Bianca cut in. She sounded strong. She'd always been the bravest of the three of them, looking after them and making sure they were always okay. Ceri released a soft breath. They would be okay because Bianca was here.

"Where are you taking us?"

"Silence, you insufferable girl!"

"Don't talk to my sister that way!" Nico shouted in outrage, but there was a vulnerable note in there that everyone heard. Ceri bit her own lips to keep from speaking out. The strangest thing was, usually she was the hardest to shut up.

Dr. Thorn growled then. It was a sound that made her want to duck and cower, because a part of her knew that from that sound alone her life would never be the same again. Chills and nerves fluttered into her gut. Had she just been wishing for excitement? Ha!

When they made the clearing—a cliff—she barely heard Thorn say, "Halt." He pushed them the very edge and when Percy stumbled, it was her sister who caught him. Bianca nodded stiffly at him but he didn't seem to catch it.

"Thanks," he murmured instead.

"What is he?" Bianca whispered back. "How do we fight him?"

"I . . . I'm working on it." Ceri was doubtful, even if he had a bat.

"I'm scared," Nico mumbled. Their hands squeezed together, and on his other side she could see he was playing with one of his Mythomagic action figures. She couldn't make out which one.

"It's okay," Ceri said softly, but her voice came out uncertain. As if she was breaking from some sort of script. A script she had no lines in. As a result she felt as if she was intruding on something she shouldn't and—and isn't that strange? It scared her just enough, the fact she felt so unwelcome, that her mouth was screwed tight.

"Stop talking!" Dr. Thorn said. "Face me!"

They turned.

Ceri found it increasingly uncomfortable to gaze at his eyes to which she was about to look away from when he pulled something from under his coat. She stiffened for a moment but it was a black rectangular box. He pressed something on it and started to speak, "The package—it is ready to deliver."

A worrying sentiment.

Percy gave a quick glance behind them, causing her to wonder what was so special about the darkness beyond the cliff.

Dr. Thorn laughed. "By all means, Son of Poseidon. Jump! There is the sea. Save yourself."

"What did he call you?" Bianca whispered.

"I'll explain later," he muttered back.

"You do have a plan, right?"

Percy seemed to cringe a bit. It wasn't a cheering expression. He seemed to think hard for a moment, it showing all over his face. She thought he might need a better poker face if he was going to make a play with someone like Thorn, but she wasn't going to stop him from trying whatever it was.

"I would kill you before you ever reached the water," Dr. Thorn said. Yeah, never mind. Percy had dumb ideas if that's what he'd been thinking. "You do not realize who I am, do you?"

Percy focused on the scenery behind Thorn instead of replying.

"Unfortunately," Thorn said, "you are wanted alive, if possible. Otherwise you would already be dead."

"Who wants us?" Bianca demanded to know. "Because if you think you'll get a ransom, you're wrong. We don't have any family. Ceri, Nico and I . . ." Her voice broke a little. "We've got no one but each other."

"Aww," Dr. Thorn cooed. "Do not worry, little brats. You will be meeting my employer soon enough. Then you will have a brand-new family."

"Luke," Percy murmured, and then stronger, "You work for Luke."

Dr. Thorn's mouth twisted with distaste when he heard the name. Whoever this was, he didn't like him. So not his leader, Ceri thought.

"You have no idea what is happening, Perseus Jackson. I will let the General enlighten you. You are going to do him a great service tonight. He is looking forward to meeting you."

"The General?" Percy asked, but his inflection was off. He seemed to be imitating Dr. Thorn's French accent on accident. "I mean . . . who's the General?" he corrected himself.

Thorn looked toward the horizon, as if the answers lied there. And apparently they did. "Ah, here we are. Your transportation."

They turned and saw a light off in the distance, just as they heard the increasing roar of an aircraft. Such strange things. Like going into D.C. and discovering things had been changed.

"Where are you taking us?" Nico bravely wondered aloud. She could feel more than hear the nerves he felt. Her hand tightened on his and she wondered if he was just as perplexed and terrified.

"You should be honored, my boy. You will have the opportunity to join a great army! Just like that silly game you play with cards and dolls."

"They're not dolls! They're figurines! And you can take your great army and—"

"Now, now," Dr. Thorn warned. "You will change your mind about joining us, my boy. And if you do not, well . . . there are other uses for half-bloods. We have many monstrous mouths to feed. The Great Stirring is underway."

"The Great what?" Percy asked. She wanted to know, too. She was growing increasingly confused, and yet there was this anticipation of something right inside of her chest at the word half-blood. It was making it harder to breath. It was on the tip of her tongue!

"The stirring of monsters." Something about that made Thorn smile, his grin the classic look of a villain about to eat your heart out. "The worst of them, the most powerful, are now waking. Monsters that have not been seen in thousands of years. They will cause death and destruction the likes of which mortals have never known. And soon we shall have the most important monster of all—the one that shall bring about the downfall of Olympus!"

"Okay," Bianca whisper hissed to Percy at the end the madman's speech. "He's completely nuts."

"We have to jump off the cliff," Percy replied, as if this was the most logical next step. "Into the sea."

"Oh, super idea. You're completely nuts, too."

The freakiest part to Ceri was that she was inclined to agree with Percy. And why would that be? It wasn't like he'd done anything subst—

A blur shot out and hit Percy. On instinct she pressed herself closer to her brother so she wouldn't fall off the edge. Mostly what she ended up doing was this—Ceri tumbled terribly, the rest of the world a blur of activity of shouts and cries and "For Zeus!"—All of that and more could be heard as she fell over her brother in her haste for safety, tripping over his and her feet. Mere moments later, her head landed on something hard and sharp before further chaos ensued.

She dreamed she was just your average American woman living in the middle of the country with no real talent, and no real worth.

Ah, that wasn't exactly right. She'd had some worth at the end of her short life.

She'd been a . . . how ironic, she'd been a hero. She'd saved countless lives in a fire at a school she'd been interning at. Later, she died in the hospital for having inhaled too much smoke; her lungs had burnt to a crisp from within her while she had struggled to her very last, very painful breath.

Ceri's head hurt. Or no. Was it Sophie who hurt? Sophie, who?

She blinked her eyes open as she struggled to reconcile two seemingly different souls that were now roiling in her body like two separate beings fighting for head space . . . But wait. They weren't two different souls. They were the same one. Sophie was now Ceri, but—what in the hell?

"Eat this," someone said and pressed something into her hands. It was a square treat, yellow, making her think of lemons.

Ceri, not knowing what to do but obey, brought whatever it was to her lips and tasted—a well of comfort hit her, and suddenly the ringing in her ears, the fogging of her brain, and even the sharp pain at the back of her skull slowly dispersed. She tasted her mother's torta caprese, the soft chocolate cake of her childhood and the secondary hit of gelato that accompanied it.

Ceri thought she'd never get to taste it again. Was surprised it was some lemon cake giving it to her. Except, she wasn't really surprised.

Instead, her mind processed the world shattering revelations going through her at a swift speed that did freak her out. It was only thanks to the treat she ate that she didn't immediately pass out again. Or maybe the fact that in her chest was that anticipation, and then the mortification that she'd managed to the knock herself out!

In front of Percy Jackson no less!

Gasp!

Oh god—no wait, plural, gods. She was in the Percy Jackson world! And she wasn't supposed to be here! Ceri was suddenly aware of why it had felt so wrong to speak earlier, she wasn't supposed to be here!

"Is that better? You look a little shaken up." Ceri looked up almost desperately, hoping to see a familiar face. Instead it was some girl she didn't even know. Which huntress was this? It couldn't be Zoë, she didn't appear to have a stick up her butt.

She looked around her surroundings, she was in a tent on a bedroll on the ground. Ah.

"Uh, yeah," she gave the stranger a shaky smile. "Where is my brother and sister?"

The girl smiled back. "Bianca is helping our sisters with packing. You've been out for quite a while, dawn is about to break."

Ceri frowned. Something about how she said our sisters. And missed mentioning her brother. "And Nico?"

The girl pinched her lips together in a show of quiet distaste. "He's with the other boys."

Ah. She knew what was happening now. Somehow.

And this predicament she was now in, the whole "I'm in a storybook for kids," thing going on, well it was bound to be an exciting one.

A/N: Hello~! This is just the kick off, a large percent of this chapter is pretty much cannon so I doubt it was the funnest thing to read, but I didn't want to start this OC-Insert off when she was a baby and spend like twenty chapters wading through them to get to plot. Thus, most of the dialogue in this chapter is predominantly ripped from the original book where this all happens, The Titan's Curse. A necessary evil, but everything else is written by me. c:

Some things to understand about the fic:

So the title is based on the flowers of Hades which is the cypress tree and the narcissus flower (the daffodil, narcissus is its unfortunate scientific name based on the legend of narcissus). Anywho, like a lot of flowers and mythology linked to things, cypress and daffodil's have some meaning's in the "language of flora".

Cypress: death, despair, mourning, and sorrow. The wood from this tree is often used to make coffin's and people used to be buried beneath them in the way olden days. Kinda obvious why it's one of Hades symbols.

Daffodil (narcissus): grave flower, a flower of rebirth, death, and new beginnings. Often associated with luck regarding a bountiful harvest and future prosperity. It's good luck, happiness, the herald of spring, but also egotism and narcissism. It's also a symbol of future misfortune in some cases. It's message is thus, "Nothing bad will last forever, because spring is just around the corner."

Ceri's name is pronounced the Italian way, so no "seri" or "seria"; it's pronounced as "cheri" or "cheria" if that helps.

Also drew the cover muhself, hope you like it! :D